Life-Study Reading Program: Jan. 2-Feb. 2, 2012

“The brothers and sisters who are willing to read all the Life-study messages and to study every word of the Recovery Version of the New Testament will have a solid foundation. This inexhaustible treasure will be within them for their whole life….We need to receive this plea and make a resolution to give ourselves to study the Lord’s Word.” ~Witness Lee (Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 2, Section 4)

With the approach of a new year comes the opportunity for new beginnings and new resolutions of heart (cf. Judges 5:15 ). What resolutions will you make? What goals will you set? And how will you spend the opening days of the new year?

The editors of the Living to Him website would like to invite you to spend the first month of 2012 in a very special way–reading Life-Study messages!

Over the years, many of us have been in meetings in which Brother Lee or the co-workers spoke about the riches contained in the life-studies and encouraged the saints to spend time each day reading life-study messages. To remind us of the benefits of reading the Life-Study messages and to encourage us to build up a practice of regular reading, we would like to invite everyone to participate in a one-month, corporate, Life-Study reading program.

We realize that many of us have made attempts in the past to establish the practice of regular Life-Study reading and that we have had varying degrees of success. We hope that those who have already successfully built up this practice will share their testimonies with us for the encouragement of others, and we hope that those who have failed in the past will be willing to seek the Lord for a new beginning and to join with us for this new corporate endeavor.

Starting on January 2, we encourage everyone to begin reading the Life-Study of First Thessalonians. For each of the first four weeks (January 2-January 29), we will read 5 messages per week. During the fifth and final week (January 30-February 2), we will read 4 messages. This will allow us to complete the Life-Study of First Thessalonians, which has 24 messages, by February 2.

For each reading day (Monday-Friday), we will publish a post on the Living to Him website with the title of the message for that day, a link to the verses covered in the message, and an outline of the message. We hope that the saints who participate in the reading program will use the comments section below these posts to share their enjoyment and inspiration from reading that day’s message.

Throughout the reading program, we also will use the website to encourage everyone to keep reading by posting testimonies, special words of encouragement, and quotes from Brother Lee about the benefits of reading the life-studies.

If you have questions about the reading program, please feel free to contact us.

If you would like to participate in the reading program, please sign up here.

(Saints who sign up for the program will also receive a weekly email to encourage them to keep reading).

46 thoughts on “Life-Study Reading Program: Jan. 2-Feb. 2, 2012

  1. I just want to give an “Amen!” to this Life-study reading endeavor! I am someone who wants read the LS regularly and be constituted with the truth and I have bookmarks in multiple LS books that now are on my shelf, unfinished. Recently I got together with some brothers and we all expressed similar sentiments regarding our desire to read the LS and histories of various starts/stops, successes/failures in the past. We decided that together we would read 1 short Life-study, 1 message/day. I knew this pace was too fast but we picked a short book (13 messages) and I went for it; I considered it a sprint of sorts. Knowing I was doing this with other brothers really helped. Even at times when I was reading just to get through so I didn’t let the group down, something still got in. I will never look at the book of 2 Peter the same again. Now I am a little more equipped as a soldier in the Lord’s army. This ministry is so rich!

  2. I found that in my attempt to read one message a day I failed, but I did not fail at reading every day. I feel that the habit of reading the ministry daily is truly what will benefit us the most. Those who fail in this challenge should be encouraged to keep reading as much as they can as often as they can. I know that for me, while in the FTTA, what benefited me the most was not how much ministry I read, but the simple fact that I was IN the ministry in a daily way. The daily infusing changed my life, even if it was just a couple pages that day.

  3. I am just now finishing Mathew and have found the messages enriching. It is important to learn how through these messages the Lord Jesus can prepare us for His coming (Mathew message #67 chapter 24).

    Our Brother Francis Ball has shared that when we go through these messages you always learn something more that we didn’t see before. Like our time in the scriptures the Lord uses this spoken word to prepare us, to comfort us, to warn us, remind us of our responsibility to Him and to each other.

    Take this opportunity to allow the Lord to minister to us through His Body our Brother Lee. Present yourself to Him who is our strength and our food. Praise Him, Amen.

  4. I am really looking forward to this reading program. I recently joined with some brothers to read through a short Life-Study volume and found the experience to be very encouraging. We tried to read a message a day and endeavored to post brief comments online about the things that we were enjoying in the messages. This was one of the highlights for me. I found that the exercise of trying to summarize my enjoyment from the messages and then posting something online really enhanced my reading experience. Praise the Lord. I look forward to reading together with you all. The things that are impossible by ourselves become possible in the Body!

    1. Yes! Our speaking/writing of these things is where we really process and solidify what we have read. The Life-Study I remember the most from my Life-Study summaries in the training was the one I actually summarized – by that exercise, the main point of that message was burned into my memory, and has since been a lastig supply, not just a fleeting inspiration. In this training a brother reminded us again that how much we get depends not on how many times we hear the word by how many times we speak it. I’m encouraged to use these online comments as a way to speak and re-speak the ministry until it is in us in a solid way.

  5. Praise the Lord! May we be those who open our homes to gain many! Lord I open my home and heart for you to gain many new ones!

  6. Praise the Lord! I am looking forward to starting reading in a corporate way. I think that the accountability of reading corporately will help me to stick to the schedule and regularly get into the riches of the ministry and Word.

  7. Dear Saints,

    I am so thankful the Lord for such encouragment to pursue the truth with other saints. I was considering what should I read in this coming year…

    I finished FTTL recently and I want very short testify that few years before FTTL I was trying my best to read each day one chapter of Life Study or other books of the ministry so in such way I had always something fresh to share with my gospel friends at work.
    When I told my friends that I going to FTTL I was very touched when two of my gospel friends asked me to borrow my books which I read… So one of my gospel friends Karia – has my ministry books and Agata has my Life Studys.
    The Lord arranged that I come back to my work next month and I will see my gospel frends again… I feel very encourage to read Life Study – so I will have extra portion of spiritual food to share!
    THANK YOU SAINTS!
    May the Lord cover this time and make us faithful in coming to Him, living to Him and make us living testimony of Him to bring remaining fruits for His glory!
    Eating is the way!
    Amen!

  8. Amen! May the Lord bring us all forward to be more equipped with the word for us to shine as His corporate expression. Praise the Lord.

  9. I am so looking forward to spending the first month of the new year reading the life-study of one of the books of the New Testament. What a joy to have the words of life brought into or being for our reconstitution!

  10. I am very encouraged to see this endeavor and this corporate pursuit. I’m in! 🙂 How we need to get some companions and get into the truth in a solid way, to pursue the Lord in the truth, so that we would be constituted with the truth!

    Recently I realized more clearly that the preaching of the gospel is the speaking of the truth. This means that for us to preach the gospel effectively, we need to be filled with the truth, so that our speaking would be full of the truth constituted into our being!

  11. I just made a 1 & 2 Thessalonians reading plan available for sharing at Living Stream Ministry’s Reading Through the Life-Study of the Bible website (http://ministrybooks.org/reading/), to help us keep track of our reading. The name of the reading plan is “Constituted”

    To add this reading plan, log in and click on the ‘share plan’ link at the top of the page. Enter the following information into the ‘Join an Existing Reading Plan’ table:

    Shared Reading Plan Name: Constituted
    Your Personal Reading Plan Name: This is the name you would like to assign this reading plan in your account

    Hallelujah! Grace!

    ——————————————————————————–

    1. RE–is there a way to set up a reading plan on ministrybooks.org/reading for just 5 days per week? We are planning on reading just 5 days per week, leaving the weekend for catch up or a break. It looks the “Constituted” reading plan is set up for a chapter a day. This is a little faster than our pace.

      1. Nathan-I have set up a plan for only 5 days a week (M-f), one message per day, however the finish date shows 2/13/12 as it includes 1&2 Thess because you cannot seperate them on the reading plan. You can join the 5 day, 1 message per day plan by following the instructions below:

        I just made my reading plan available for sharing at Living Stream Ministry’s Reading Through the Life-Study of the Bible website (http://ministrybooks.org/reading/).

        To add this reading plan, log in and click on the ‘share plan’ link at the top of the page. Enter the following information into the ‘Join an Existing Reading Plan’ table:

        Shared Reading Plan Name: 1&2 Thess
        Your Personal Reading Plan Name: This is the name you would like to assign this reading plan in your account

        Much Grace!

      2. Nathan,

        Yes, I just planned it that way so that it can fit into the month of January. But, Rachael created the 5 day reading plan. She named it: “1&2 Thess”

        Also, there is a way to design a reading plan with just one section a day. Many of us in Anaheim finished reading 2 books already by reading one section a day, which is one screen page or 7 minutes.

  12. I did the same thing as R E. Please see the comment for instructions on how to set up a LS reading schedule. This really keeps me accountable, committed and it tracks my progress! Also I can write notes about my enjoyment as I go so I can remember what I enjoyed and share it here after my reading.

    That being said I really enjoyed that we need to address God as OUR FATHER and Jesus as OUR LORD in order to be joined to him organicly in a practical way and to receive the anointing of the Spirit.

    I also enjoyed the structure of the Christian life : Work of Faith, Labor of Love, Endurance of Hope. Although Love is the greatest & most important thing I appreciated that Faith comes first. We must have Faith! This life lasts and stands unchanging by the sustaining power of the hope that looks for their beloved Lord, who promised that He would come to take them to Himself.

  13. Faith is toward God (1:8); love is toward the saints (3:12; 4:9-10); and hope is in the Lord’s coming (2:19).

    This was so good…may we all see this reality and move foward in Him!

  14. One of my vital companions contacted me last night about this exhortation to DIG into the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians in pursuing the Lord in corporate way. Hallelujah for the life-line!! I haven’t even got into the life-study yet, but I got pulled in already just by this portion below (1 Thess. 1:3 note 2):

    “Here faith indicates the nature and strength of the work; love, the motivation for and characteristic of labor; and hope, the source of endurance. These depict the structure of the genuine Christian life, a life constructed with faith, love, and hope (see note 131 in 1 Cor. 13). Such a life originates not from the ability of the believers’ natural being but from the infusion of what God, in whom they believe, is”.

    Paul also lays out the very construct to the saints in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 13:13 concerning love as the excellent way for the building up of the church: “Now there abide faith, bhope, clove, these three; and the greatest of these is love”.

  15. Is really amazing how simple and profound is this verse 1 Thessalonian 1:1 related to our Organic union with our God. He is God our Father and also our Lord Jesus. This is really amazing. This is the complete Gospel. I am so happy that we started this new year remembering that we are Sons of our Father God and that Jesus is not only Jesus he is our Lord. We are God family and we posess his life and we are one with him an organic union.

  16. Saints, we must believe for others then they themselves will believe.
    We must believe that those who hear us will be able to understand,
    receive, and accept the full gospel!
    This is very encouraging…..

  17. Amen! What a great way to dig deeper into the Word and the Life Study messages together. Looking forward to this next month!

  18. Praise the Lord for a new year, and a new start! A new spiritual year!… (from the book God’s Need and God’s Goal) I’m excited to be a part of this reading program!

  19. Amen! Page 7 “Such a life originates not from the ability of the believer’s natural being, but from the infusion of what God is, in whom they believe.” I really enjoyed that word “infusion”. Thank you Lord you are the infusion of life in us! We don’t have to worry about our natural ability…if it is enough. We have God’s life infused into us, His ability, not ours. His energy, not ours. His love, not ours! Thank you Lord for this! ( I hope I interpreted this right saints!)

  20. “The church is a group of human beings who have been born of God and who have been brought into an organic union with Him.”

  21. Praise the Lord for the chance to spend the next month getting into His word and being in “these things”.We as believers have our concepts and opinions of caring for the new ones and new believers, but we must have the understanding of working in faith, laboring in love, and the endurance of hope to shepard the new ones and to encourage them in the Lord.In my locality we have students/new believers/and those who are seeking the Lord who need to be properly cared for and I am thankful for this LS/the Word to encourage us to care for these new believers!

  22. Our organic union in the divine life and nature is the vital base for us to live a holy life for the church life!

    In the Christian life first we have a work of faith and then this work becomes a labor of love and finally we go on to the endurance of hope. Endurance comes from the hope in the Lord’s coming. Endurance is the topstone of our work. To be successful in shepherding the saints, we must exercise endurance.

  23. Being in our God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ enables us to live a holy life for the church life. Thank You, Lord. Keep us laboring, not just working, in faith and love.

  24. we should lead young believers not only to worship God but also lead them to experience Christ as the All-Inclusive Supplier!

  25. Our HOPE is in the coming Lord, and our FUTURE is in Him!
    So our future, our destiny, and our destination are altogether
    focused on the Lord who is coming back….
    And this is why we have no hope on this earth and no destiny
    in this age.

    Thank you Lord Jesus that you are our true destiny!!!!

  26. I was enlightened to see that the church is a composition of human beings who have been regenerated by God , and have been brought into the organic union with Christ. Therefore we need to have a proper life, a manner of life that match him so he can fulfill his heart desire in us. He should be living in our speech, in our behavior, and in every aspect of our daily life. By this way we can have a proper Christian life for the church life, a life without idols, a life that testifies that our God is living!, and a life that await for His coming!

  27. I enjoyed these points in Message 3.

    1. The Church is IN the processed Triune God
    2. The structure of a holy life for the church life
    :the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope.
    3. Unique and profound expression is used
    : 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says “salvation in santification of the Spirit”, 2:14 ” unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”, and 2:16 “eternal encouragemeent and good hope in grace”

    4.To serve the living God means to serve the God who is living within us and who is ome with us. After the cross and the resurrection, the God whom we serve is no longer merely in the heavens, for He is now living in us.

  28. The church is in the Triune God. The living and true God is in us. Faith brings us into the Triune God and the Triune God into us. Such faith always produces an organ union. Faith is increased, strengthened, broadened, and made greater by our knowing more of the Holy Word and hearing more messages. This faith is living and working to cause us to live a holy life for the church life, which is a corporate living for a corporate testimony. More reading the life-studies, more faith, more organic union with the Triune God, more living, more testimony. Lord keep us in Your word and in the ministry.

  29. This is truly a marvel. I am not that practical in reading on a daily bases ,but being one on the calling to be Wash! I will join this venture .It is also a reminder the need to wash on a daily bases,This will produce this marvelous Christ in living and in expression On the long run be transformed into this city “The New Jerusalem” Being practical is definetly the way to go …
    ” PRACTICE READING!”

  30. Brother Lee, “The brothers and sisters who are willing to read all the Life-study messages and to study every word of the Recovery Version of the New Testament will have a solid foundation. This inexhaustible treasure will be within them for their whole life….We need to receive this plea and MAKE A RESOLUTION to give ourselves to study the Lord’s Word.”

    Thank you brothers, and fellow participating saints/readers, for this life-study reading endeavor. May we all be particularly impressed by the subjects of the Thessalonian epistles: A Holy Life for the Church Life — Serving the Living God, Conducting Ourselves in a Holy Manner, and Waiting for the Lord’s Coming, for the 1st one; and Encouragement and Correction concerning the Holy Life for the Church Life, for the 2nd one. We all need to see that this reading program is not only for us to read individually for our individual sanctification and holy living for the church life, but also a corporate, mutual encouragement to be established with a solid foundation in truth, and be constituted with inexhaustible treasure of experience, so that they will be within us for the rest of our whole Christian life!

    May we all take firmly the opportunity for new beginnings and new resolutions of heart (cf. Judges 5:15 ) to spend the opening days of the new year in this endeavor, and press on through mutual encouragement, actively sustaining current participants, and even aggressively inviting potential readers. This surely can become a foretaste of the New Jerusalem, the highest and fullest experience of Triune God as the constant habitation and eternal tabernacle of us tripartite men!

  31. Praise the Lord for the holy life for the church life! Faith is the foundation of the structure of a holy life for the church life. Upon this foundation a building is taking place. This is the labor of love. Then the topstone of this building will be the enduring hope. In this way we have the complete structure of a holy life for the church life. Hallelujah, we have such a wonderful God, and we are in Him!

  32. Amen. Its well worth the time and effort to read all the Life-study messages while you are still young. I started reading the Life-study messages at the age of 14. I was bored one afternoon and was browsing my dad’s book shelves for something to read then I noticed he had a set of the Life-study of Revelation. I grabbed the whole set (they were lose-bound versions long before we had the green hard bound versions) for our vacation and read through the entire Life-study (read on average 8 messages a day) in about two weeks. That was my first time I read something by Brother Lee and it changed my whole view of the Bible and its riches. It also good to read through each life-study a second or even a third time as you find more “nuggets” that you missed the first time. Life-study of Gospel of John is worth reading through at least 2 times (I have read it 3 times). Set yourself a long term goal to read at least through all of the New Testament Life-studies in 10 years. Its worth it! Especially during your college/university years. Don’t wait to go the Full Time Training to start…

  33. Please do send me your Life Study Reading Programme.
    Praise the Lord for the Ministry of the Age..what a rich treasure we have in Brother Lee’s Life Study Messages.
    How we need to be constituted with the Truth. Amen.

  34. We can live Christ because we are in Him. I just enjoyed reading this divine fact. Thank you Lord, we are in You! In You we can live a holy life for the churchlife! Amen 🙂

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